Academic stress, huge expectations from parents and teachers, and disapproval in society aggravates the mental health issues among adolescents in Kashmir, said doctors at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) Srinagar.
Doctors said that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), OCD are common among males while anxiety disorders, depression and self-harm were common among female students.
After the NEET results were announced, the number of distress calls and Out Patient Department (OPD) registrations have increased manifold.
According to the doctors at IMHANS, psychological counselling for adolescents including NEET-UG aspirants is very important.
Dr. Yasir Hassan Rather, Professor at IMHANS told that mental health issues were a rare sight in adolescents but nowadays these issues are common.
“There has been a surge in anxiety and depressive features in children and adolescents. I have seen many patients in the last few days who didn’t crack the NEET examination and are now suffering from anxiety and depression. They even have suicidal thoughts,” he said.
Dr. Yasir said positive mental health and emotional well-being needs to have an equal importance in development of a child as are academics and physical health.
“Schools need to have counselors available so that there will be an immediate go to person in case of any mental health issue. Presence of a counsellor will also provide an idea that it’s alright for someone to have a mental health problem,” he added.
Dr. Zaid Wani, Professor at IMHANS told that mental health issues are common and most of the disorders start in adolescence.
“It is a very sensitive period as it determines the achievements of the person. A good mental health enables a person to lead a productive life and maintain respectable social life,” he said.
Doctors said that parents need to understand their children and instead of pressuring them, they need to support them.
“Negativity, anxiety, academic pressure, societal pressure. All these factors contributed to their psychological ill health,” he said.
They said that dangerous developments like rage towards society or parents was detected in this category of young children at the grassroot level.
Doctors said that having access to mobiles allows them to learn about sad happenings in society through social media. “Negative news plays in their minds. All these factors contributed to their psychological ill health,” he said.
“Children having access to mobiles 24×7 and parents having no control over the type of content their children accessed on the internet, have messed things up for the children,” he said.
